Bail was set at $700,000 today for a man who Cook County prosecutors say is behind a series of armed robberies of tow truck drivers. Bobby Simms, 22, of the 7000 block of South Essex Avenue, is alleged to have robbed eight tow truck drivers at gunpoint and one at knifepoint. Prosecutors say Simms would call tow truck operators requesting roadside assistance. When they arrived, Simms would take their cash — ranging from as little as $5 to $890 — and cell phones. Simms was arrested in...

Bail was set at $700,000 today for a man who Cook County prosecutors say is behind a series of armed robberies of tow truck drivers. Bobby Simms, 22, of the 7000 block of South Essex Avenue, is alleged to have robbed eight tow truck drivers at gunpoint and one at knifepoint. Prosecutors say Simms would call tow truck operators requesting roadside assistance. When they arrived, Simms would take their cash — ranging from as little as $5 to $890 — and cell phones. Simms was arrested in...

A 29-year-old tow truck driver was killed Thursday night when his truck rolled over him as he was unloading a vehicle from it at an auto yard on the Near Northwest Side. Danny Quizhpi, of the 1400 block of East 72nd Place, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, officials said today. The incident happened about 8:15 p.m. at the auto yard in the 4500 block of West North Avenue. "The [driver] was unloading a vehicle from his tow truck when the tow truck slipped...

Police are investigating whether the man arrested after abandoning a tow truck off the Edens Expressway this morning was the driver of a similar vehicle involved in an earlier hit-and-run crash in Chicago that injured three people. A red tow truck was found rolled-over in a ditch on the northbound side of the Edens Expressway about 9:30 a.m., said Illinois State Police Sgt. Jeff Grendzinski. The driver of the vehicle had abandoned the vehicle near Lake Avenue and was fleeing the scene when he...

A man caught this week robbing a victim at knifepoint has been charged with various crimes, including a series of robberies of tow truck drivers, police said tonight. The pattern of attacks against tow truck drivers caused police to put out an investigative alert, and "a mission was put in place" involving Calumet Area Robbery/Burglary/Theft Detectives, South Chicago District Tactical Officers and the Chicago Police Organized Crime Division, police said in a news release late Friday.

All three lanes of the southbound Edens Expressway were reopened after a semi-truck fire originally shut down all lanes near the Touhy exit this morning, police said. The all three lanes were reopened as of 6:15 a.m., Illinois State Police officials said. State police officials were called to the southbound lanes of I-94 at the Touhy exit at about 4:45 a.m. after a report of a semi-truck that was on fire, said State Police Trooper Ramon Coss. When officials responded...

Three Cook County tow truck towing companies that hauled cars from accident scenes were accused of consumer fraud in a lawsuit today that alleged they demanded as much as $6,000 in phony fees to release a car.Drivers from Road America, City Wide Auto and Pro Auto would listen to scanners and arrive quickly at accident scenes offering to tow vehicles, said the suit, filed by the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Customers were assured that the tow would be covered by their auto insurance,...

A 65-year-old store security guard shot at a tow truck as his car was about to be repossessed, officials say. Ike D. Holmes was working at an Aldi food store in the 5600 block of West Fillmore Street on Aug. 27 when a tow truck arrived at about 7 a.m. to repossess his car, police said. Holmes argued with the two men in the tow truck, then took out a gun and shot one of the truck's tires, police said. Holmes, of the 2100 block of West 119 Street, was charged...

A Chicago police officer was hit by a car in a chain-reaction crash as he was making a traffic stop this morning, police said. One driver was charged with misdemeanor drunk driving. The officer, who may have suffered a broken arm, was struck near the intersection of Northwest Highway and Foster Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood just after 3:15 a.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines. Three other people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

A 21-year-old man who was injured in a car crash in the Lincoln Square neighborhood Sunday died Thursday night, authorities said today. Domingo Rivera-Lezama, of the 2800 block of South Kedvale Avenue, was headed north on Western Avenue near Montrose Avenue at about 6:50 a.m. Sunday when his car rear-ended a tow truck, said Chicago Police Officer Michael Fitzpatrick. Rivera-Lezama died Thursday afternoon at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center, according to the Cook County...

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Hoffman Estates man alleging that he fired several shots at employees of a repossession firm as they were hooking his sport-utility vehicle, authorities said today. Ronnie Kindred, 42, of the 1900 block of Brighton Lane, was charged in the warrant with aggravated discharge of a firearm. The warrant was approved Thursday by Judge Hyman Riebman in the Rolling Meadows branch court of Cook County Circuit Court. The judge set bail for Kindred at $300,000.

An off-duty police corporal in Indiana has been charged with drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident after he struck two parked vehicles while leaving a party celebrating the sheriff's re-election.Porter County Cpl. Ryan Fenters of Hebron was arrested early Wednesday after he left Sheriff David Lain's victory party in Valparaiso. Police say Fenters refused to submit to a breath test. Police were awaiting results from a blood test. Lain told the Times of...

A seventh Chicago police officer has been charged as part of a probe into cops tipping off favored tow truck drivers to car crashes in return for bribes. Marcos Hernandez, a patrol officer in the Shakespeare District, faces a single misdemeanor count for using the computer in his squad car to give owner information to a tow truck driver whom Hernandez called to a crash scene in September 2006. Three tow truck operators have been charged in addition to the seven officers in the...

A 65-year-old store security guard shot at a tow truck as his car was about to be repossessed, officials say. Ike D. Holmes was working at an Aldi food store in the 5600 block of West Fillmore Street on Aug. 27 when a tow truck arrived at about 7 a.m. to repossess his car, police said. Holmes argued with the two men in the tow truck, then took out a gun and shot one of the truck's tires, police said. Holmes, of the 2100 block of West 119 Street, was charged...

For the second time this week, a Chicago police officer was arrested as part of a federal investigation into cops who steered business to tow truck drivers in exchange for cash. Officer Juan Prado, 45, an 11-year veteran who works out of the Shakespeare District, was taken into custody Thursday and charged with three counts of felony attempted extortion, officials said. Between August and October 2006, Prado took three bribes totaling more than $1,100 from a tow truck driver who...

A Chicago police officer was hit by a car in a chain-reaction crash as he was making a traffic stop this morning, police said. One driver was charged with misdemeanor drunk driving. The officer, who may have suffered a broken arm, was struck near the intersection of Northwest Highway and Foster Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood just after 3:15 a.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines. Three other people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

Chicago police Officer James Wodnicki's Northwest Side beat was a gold mine for tow truck drivers as long as they were willing to throw a few bucks his way, federal authorities said. When a stolen car was found by its owner on a Bucktown street in July 2006, the 20-year veteran patrolman allegedly broke department rules when he phoned a tow truck driver, who retrieved the car and took it to an auto shop. A second tow driver went along, ferrying the car's owner to the shop. Later, outside...

A man caught this week robbing a victim at knifepoint has been charged with various crimes, including a series of robberies of tow truck drivers, police said tonight. The pattern of attacks against tow truck drivers caused police to put out an investigative alert, and "a mission was put in place" involving Calumet Area Robbery/Burglary/Theft Detectives, South Chicago District Tactical Officers and the Chicago Police Organized Crime Division, police said in a news release late Friday.

A lawsuit was filed today against a tow truck company accused of towing away a pickup truck that was still occupied by a girl, court records show. The girl, Yessina Cruz, who had just arrived home from the hospital after surgery to remove her appendix in May 2009, jumped out of the moving vehicle, causing her stitches to be torn, according to a complaint filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. Yessina's father, Juan Rodriguez, had picked up his daughter from a hospital in his 1993...